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I've used a tan colored grout between my shower tiles. I've noticed that the edges of the shower have already cracked after 1 week. To prevent cracking, many people on the Internet suggest caulking the perpendicular edges instead of grouting. The company that made my grout also makes caulk with an exact color match. When I looked at the fine print on their caulk, I saw "do not use in areas with constant water exposure". So what are my other options to have a color-matched caulk that can also withstand constant water exposure?

My grout is Sahara Tan colored:

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The company also sells a Sahara Tan caulk:

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I recently built a shower using this same type of grout, but a different color. The matching silicone caulk I used was suitable for wet locations (picture below). I used this caulk in the gap between the vertical shower corners but I used up the one tube I ordered from HD and used clear silicone caulk along the horizontal shower to base gaps, and the vertical shower to adjoining walls wood trim. In the gap between the shower tile and shower glass I also used the clear silicone caulk. It all looks really nice now.

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  • My Polyblend color-matched caulk says "siliconized for ease of use". However, the back said it's not suitable for constant water usage. What is up with this discrepancy?
    – JoJo
    Dec 2, 2013 at 0:49
  • Yea, that puzzled me to. So I did a search on the Polyblend Ceramic Tile Caulk and found a post of a guy who said he spoke to the manufacturer about this specific wording and: "Coming directly from the manufacturer reps mouth - that is referring to pools or hot tubs or anything under water, not showers." If you'd like to read it the URL is: contractortalk.com/f11/polyblend-ceramic-tile-caulk-74715. Scroll down to Mike Finley's post.
    – getterdun
    Dec 3, 2013 at 10:06
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Answer comes really late for the original poster, but may help others. Siliconized caulk is acrylic plus silicone, not suitable for constant water exposure (but fine and easy to use in mostly dry areas). A shower should be caulked with 100% silicone, NOT siliconized caulk.

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  • Good added note since it clearly spells out for future readers the importance of the selection process and what to look for.
    – noybman
    Sep 24, 2017 at 17:31
  • You’re probably right. That colored caulk I installed some years ago already has black mold growing on it that I can’t wash off.
    – JoJo
    Sep 27, 2017 at 7:53

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